regulatory and compliance issues and considerations

We have stated that there must be an ongoing "familial" relationship between a primary
member and those who qualify for membership as an immediate family member. In the
context of unmarried couples, we have stated that we would look to factors indicating
the intended permanence of a familial relationship, such as: regular cohabitation;
joint ownership of property with right of survivorship; joint credit obligations; and
custodial rights over minors or other dependents. Merely sharing a household or
a purely business relationship would not be sufficient.
Ref: NCUA General Counsel Letter No. 97-0852 and 12 CFR 701.33.
What would this include?
Legally Married Spouse
A person that permanently co-habitates
with the Board Member per the NCUA
Letter noted immediately above.
What would this exclude?
A Date
A non-cohabitating person per the
assessment of “immediate family
member” in the NCUA Letter noted
immediately above.
“De Minimis Expense Exceptions”
The Credit Union recognizes the following “de minimis rules” and those
otherwise set forth in IRS Publication 15-B (2009) in considering whether any
expense herein is reimbursable/taxable:
De Minimis (Minimal) Benefits
You can exclude the value of a de minimis benefit you provide to an employee from the employee's wages. A
de minimis benefit is any property or service you provide to an employee that has so little value (taking into
account how frequently you provide similar benefits to your employees) that accounting for it would be
unreasonable or administratively impracticable. Cash and cash equivalent fringe benefits (for example, use of
gift card, charge card, or credit card), no matter how little, are never excludable as a de minimis benefit, except
for occasional meal money or transportation fare.
Employee. For this exclusion, treat any recipient of a de minimis benefit as an employee.
De Minimis Meals
You can exclude any meal or meal money you provide to an employee if it has so little value (taking into
account how frequently you provide meals to your employees) that accounting for it would be unreasonable or
administratively impracticable. The exclusion applies, for example, to the following items.
• Coffee, doughnuts, or soft drinks.
• Occasional meals or meal money provided to enable an employee to work overtime. (However, the
exclusion does not apply to meal money figured on the basis of hours worked.)
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Revised February 2010
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